An article published by The Washington Post explained the methods India relies on to become one of the world’s most intensive users of government digital surveillance systems, spying on its own citizens in a manner described as a threat to democracy at both the domestic and international levels.
In an opinion piece by Indian journalist Rana Ayyub, it was stated that the Indian government, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has over the past decade assembled a parallel digital security infrastructure. This infrastructure enables authorities to intercept, analyse, and store citizens’ communications data on a large scale.
According to a recent study conducted by a British company, India now ranks very low in international assessments measuring how well states protect citizens’ privacy rights. Its performance in this area has brought it close to China and Russia in terms of poor standards.
The article reviewed a range of methods and technologies used by the government to spy on its citizens. These include linking SIM cards to digital applications and technological devices through a system that allows the government access to call logs, messages, images, and mobile network data.
Public anger
These measures have triggered widespread public anger among activists and ordinary citizens, forcing the government to reconsider policies that reflect an authoritarian approach. Central to this debate is a surveillance system known as Aadhaar, which was originally introduced to establish citizens’ biometric identities.
Initially, this system was presented as a tool to facilitate access to social welfare programmes. It linked fingerprints and iris scans to banking services, welfare benefits, tax declarations, mobile phone numbers, and private platforms.
In practice, however, the system has, in the author’s view, become a master key to everyday life, enabling the state to map citizens’ identities and behaviour. She wrote that no democratic state has ever created a biometric system of this scale or integrated it so deeply into both public and private infrastructure.
Rana Ayyub, who is also the author of the book Gujarat Files, noted that Indian authorities have not hesitated to use advanced military grade spyware against their own citizens. This issue came to light in 2023, when Apple sent warnings to a large number of Indian journalists and opposition figures about possible compromises of their devices. India was identified as a client of the Israeli company that developed the spyware Pegasus.
Seven members
Commenting on India’s surveillance architecture, the author stated that it rests on a small unit of seven members specialising in artificial intelligence and digital intelligence. She explained that digital governance in India is based on executive directives rather than transparent legislation, placing it beyond effective judicial and parliamentary accountability, unlike the situation in the United States.
In this context, the scale of mass surveillance continues to expand, while citizens’ privacy steadily erodes and the activities of political opponents come under close scrutiny. This, according to Shoshana Zuboff, author of The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, represents a direct challenge to democracy. Zuboff argues that democracy deteriorates when citizens live under constant surveillance.
In another comparison with the United States, the author notes that America still lacks a comprehensive federal privacy law, while law enforcement agencies purchase sensitive personal data from brokers without court warrants. India, by contrast, justifies its surveillance policies on security grounds, relying on the advanced technologies at its disposal.
The article concludes that India presents a paradox. It is an electoral democracy with an independent judiciary, a free press, and an active civil society. At the same time, it operates one of the most extensive surveillance systems in the world, a reality that raises serious concerns about the future of democracy beyond India’s borders.
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